r/EverythingScience • u/fchung • 6d ago

Neuroscience Chewing wood may boost memory and brain antioxidants, study finds: « Previous research has suggested that the act of chewing can influence brain activity and blood flow. »

https://www.psypost.org/chewing-wood-may-boost-memory-and-brain-antioxidants-study-finds/
595 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

142

u/CurrencyUser 6d ago

What’s the practical implications and what’s a better object to chew on than wood ?

53

u/MickeyButters 6d ago

Okay, I am old, but I am going to say Grape Nuts

25

u/LittleRebelAngel 6d ago

It’s neither grapes nor nuts!

9

u/CaptainMagnets 5d ago

Deez nuts?

2

u/DocumentExternal6240 6d ago

I love Grape Nuts!

1

u/haterake 6d ago

Yummy

1

u/BrazenlyGeek 5d ago

Best cereal!

79

u/dalaw 6d ago

Worked at coca cola, had a problem with the canning machine. Maintenance guy is working on the machine and gets pants soaked with grape soda. The next day he told us his bottom half was stained even after the shower. He was forever known as Grape nuts.

37

u/adognameddanzig 5d ago

This really gives me something to chew on.

13

u/MikeyStealth 6d ago

I wish I could say gum but its all plastic based now

11

u/yoortyyo 6d ago

We used to eat meat with bones and gristle and sinew. Less processed everything meant eating and chewing consumed a huge amount of time

13

u/Roy4Pris 5d ago

Yes but even more so, we ate lots of fibrous plant materials. Leaves, stalks etc. Most of today’s vegetables have had the toughness bred out of them, and sweetness bred in.

9

u/011_0108_180 5d ago

This is a good point. Sweet vegetables is definitely a more recent thing. Also depending on where you lived, the types of vegetables would’ve been limited as well.

3

u/Fecal-Facts 5d ago

Fruits and vegetables are also losing their vitamin values because of this 

5

u/itsnobigthing 6d ago

Liquorice root?

6

u/Shojo_Tombo 5d ago

Gotta be careful with that. Too much licorice will poison you by sucking the potassium out of your blood.

1

u/Frosty-Cap3344 6d ago

Tiger nuts

1

u/CurrencyUser 6d ago

Gonna be hard to take them away

1

u/_sissy_hankshaw_ 5d ago

Become a cowboy and keep a toothpick handy

1

u/TwoFlower68 5d ago

Beef jerky. It's real easy to make your own. No additives!

1

u/makotojules 5d ago

Pencils?

1

u/q120 6d ago

Ice

7

u/ivanparas 6d ago

Ice will ruin your teeth

2

u/q120 5d ago

If you chomp on it too much, yeah it will

1

u/aem1003 5d ago

Especially chomping on it when there's bones frozen into it

74

u/Far_Out_6and_2 6d ago

This explains why I chewed the crap out of pencils when i was just a kid in school

68

u/itsnobigthing 6d ago

And some kid would invariably say, “you know there’s lead in that” and another would say “actually no, it’s graphite”

16

u/GMbzzz 5d ago

Verbatim

10

u/IAm_Trogdor_AMA 5d ago

Yet nobody ever mentioned the enamel paint on the pencil.

8

u/AiAkitaAnima 6d ago

Me too, I absolutely destroyed them.

52

u/fchung 6d ago

« Our findings suggest that chewing moderately hard material could serve as an effective practice for increasing GSH levels in the brain. Based on these results, consuming harder foods might prove more effective in enhancing brain antioxidant defenses through elevated GSH levels. »

31

u/ivanparas 6d ago

So chew rocks and become a genius?

14

u/Pardot42 5d ago

Your answer is in your question. My condolences 😞💐

2

u/Seyi_Ogunde 6d ago

Bleh…could be from the increased blood flow from chewing. They should try having them do situps instead.

Also they don’t say what time they took the test.

1

u/supermaja 4d ago

Why are people studying chewing on wood? What is going on in science that this study met the light of day?

21

u/luckyguy25841 5d ago

I’m going to create the first wooden mouth guard because I grind the shit out of my teeth while sleeping and it will make me a genius.

2

u/_sissy_hankshaw_ 5d ago

…splintering would be hard to combat

5

u/luckyguy25841 5d ago

You’re in charge of breakage, splinters, chips or general malfunctions and shrapnel prevention engineering. Hire a team of 4, to pilot a variety of prototypes. Salaries are up to $250k per employee. This companies future is counting on you hankshaw. Don’t let us down!!

11

u/8-bit_Goat 6d ago

We've been worried about AI becoming smarter than us and taking over the world and destroying the human race, yet all the while the real threat has been... TERMITES!

10

u/magungo 6d ago

Does chewing crayons work as well? asking for a friend.

5

u/tullbabes 5d ago

Ask your local Marine recruitment office.

2

u/VirginiaLuthier 5d ago

Only the blue ones

10

u/itsnobigthing 6d ago

My dog chews an entire stick every day - to the point that his teeth are just stumps. Never forgets a person, but occasionally tries to go into the wrong house when we get back from a walk.

21

u/_Choose_Goose 6d ago

Are toothpicks still a thing other than in with anime villains?

10

u/SeatopianAgent 5d ago

Definitely still a thing with my dad

2

u/_Choose_Goose 5d ago

My grandfather always had one after he quit smoking but don’t see it much these days.

6

u/wartfairy 5d ago

Not if you include Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

1

u/_Choose_Goose 5d ago

I wish I had an award for you! Excellent show! And that Billy bass he gives him at the end of that episode is hilarious!

10

u/Korgoth420 5d ago

Brought to you by the Beaver association of America

7

u/fchung 6d ago

Reference: Kim S, Kim J-H, Lee H, Jang SH, Noeske R, Choi C, Chang Y and Choi Y-H (2024), Effect of chewing hard material on boosting brain antioxidant levels and enhancing cognitive function. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 18:1489919. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2024.1489919. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2024.1489919/full

6

u/cr0wstuf 5d ago

I grind my teeth. Am I covered?

5

u/bluesushi 6d ago

9 out of 10 beavers approve of this post

4

u/cruiserflyer 5d ago

Why don't beavers rule the earth?

4

u/shadowsong42 5d ago

I and my dodgy TMJ are gonna pass, thanks.

3

u/Sackmonkey78 6d ago

I use to chew on everything as a young lad, and I would get in trouble. On the flip side I had a very strong bite. Lol

1

u/ivanparas 6d ago

My dentist said I have the most developed jaw muscles he's ever seen lol. I did a lot of chewing as a kid

3

u/cirrostratusfibratus 6d ago

beaver ahh study

3

u/SGPrepperz 5d ago

Maybe this explains for kids’ chewing of the wooden sticks after finishing their ice lollies.

3

u/Nostrilsdamus 5d ago

Does chewing carrots work?

3

u/_sissy_hankshaw_ 5d ago

I would think so. Did anyone here chew around a carrot to leave just the center core? I forgot how much I loved carrots as a kid.

2

u/Snippodappel 5d ago

Just look at the gorillas, they do it all the time

2

u/flappypancaker 5d ago

I read this as “chewing morning wood”

2

u/Pterodactyloid 6d ago

That sounds horrifically bad for your teeth. I'll stick with gum

8

u/BebopAU 6d ago

I hope you don't mind microplastics

9

u/Pterodactyloid 5d ago

I don't think there's any avoiding microplastics at this point lol

3

u/Hugostrang3 5d ago

Totally Fd with plastic.

1

u/Killahdanks1 5d ago

“I think I’ll have some delicious gum, here, Chewley’s gum……”

1

u/VoodooBat 5d ago

Miswak been around for more than 1400 years. IYKYK

1

u/fuzzysocksplease 5d ago

Article sponsored by ‘Big Dental’.

1

u/URAQT 5d ago

Tell me you have an iron deficiency without telling me you have an iron deficiency